The Voice Of Somaliland: Ottawa and the Deputy Speaker of the Somaliland

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Ottawa and the Deputy Speaker of the Somaliland

It was a great day for the Ottawa Somalilander Community. A respectable member of our Ottawa Somalilander Community has triumphantly comeback from home after successfully wining a seat in the recent parliamentary election in Somaliland. Honourable Basha Mohamed Farah is also the current deputy Chairman of the Somaliland House of Representatives.

The Hall of the Villa Marconi was full of enthusiastic members of the community. The tables were full of cakes sambuusas. The children were running with flowers, and the flash of the camera was very presentand very blinding. There was a wonderful display ofthe Canadian and the Somalilander flag all over the place.

I was the Master of the ceremony, and I called first the Principal of the Ottawa Islamic School, Sheikh Mohamed Dalmer. The great Sheikh read the Quran and gave us a religious sermon on the vitality of helping our people back home in the fields of Education and Health. After the I reminded the audience of the upcoming SOPRI Conference that will happen from 8-10 Sept in Wahington DC area, and how it is very important to attend that conference, where great American and International supporters of Somaliland will express their views to the American people and Government. I also stated that the President of Somaliland and the leaders of the Opposition are expected to be coming there. It will be a Somalilander get-together day in N. America. Nobody should miss it!After that, I gave the floor to the Great SNM Mujahidand one of the most respectable elders of Ottawa, Mr.Abshir Nur, and let me say, he also just returnedf rom Somaliland. Mr Abshir gave a wonderful and factual brief of the situation back home. He also stated how great, vigilant and responsible the people of Somaliland are.

It was Abdi Yonis who made possible this ceremony. He conducted it in the name of the Elders Committee ofthe Ottawa Community. He stood up to talk about the importance of this ceremony. He thanked the wonderful women who prepared the cakes and the sambusas. He also thanked the members of the community who helped him prepare this event. However, the core of his speech was the future plans for this community. Right after Abdi Yonis, I announced the presence of Mr.Ahmed Ibrahim who is running for a councilman here in Ottawa. That is the way it should be. Therefore, I asked him to say few words about his campaign. He did it in a masterly way and we all pledged him our votes.

At last, I let one of our most visible political figures in Ottawa, Mr Abdillahi Geeljire, introduce the deputy Speaker Mr. Basha, and he did it with style and a great sense of humour.Well the Honourable Deputy Speaker, Mr Basha Mohamed Farah made a most remarkable speech. He actually captured the Hall with his eloquence. It was one ofthe best speeches and of the most informative that I ever listened to. He talked about the progress which the parliament has made so far. The different legislations that they have so far completed, the plans that they have for the future, and the logistical problems that they have and possible ways to get solutions for that. Everybody enjoyed Basha’s presentations, and it even tasted fair and sincere to the most sceptical.

After a brief recess question period started. Dr Eyo who is a great friend of Somaliland asked the honourable Bash what would be Somaliland future relationship with Somalila, in which the honourable deputy responded: Except for a Union, Somaliland is ready for any other possible relationship. Dr Eyo and everybody applauded the sharp response. Two of the most prominent elders , Mr Ismael Dualeh and Mohamed Haji Dualeh asked the speaker some pertinent questions in which the honourable deputy speakeranswered in a very responsible manner.

Then the crowing of the great event was when the great statesman Mr. Ibrahim Megag Samater stood up to say few words of congratulations, encouragements and prayers. Ibrahim who is a great intellectual, has got a way mixing humour and wisdom and that was a very electrifying closure of the day.

Mohamud Tani

No comments:

Post a Comment

The New Somaliland Press & Publications Bill 2007

The Somaliland Government has recently sent to the House of Representatives a new Bill on press and publications. The provisions of this bill (based almost entirely on the Yemen Law No: 25 of 1990 on the Press & Publications) run contrary to international norms relating to freedom of expression and the independence of the press and are not in line with the Somaliland constitution.
The considerable powers given to the Minister of Information (and other ministers) include even deciding on appeals from anyone whose writings have been turned down for publication by a newspaper’s editor (Article 46). These ministerial powers over the press and publishers/printers/distributors etc, the compulsory registration of all press and publication activities, including the practice of the profession of journalism, and the extensive criminal sanctions which add to the existing array of criminal offences in the 1962 Somali Penal Code contrast sharply with the current Somaliland Press Law (2004), which contains no criminal sanctions and is based on codes of conduct. Unfortunately the Somaliland Government has repeatedly made clear its dissatisfaction with the current press Law and has used the Penal Code and extra-judicial powers to detain and imprison journalists. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Somaliland Government is not putting forward amendments of the current Press Law, but is now proposing its wholesale replacement by this new Bill which introduces considerable criminal sanctions, such as fines and imprisonment (Article 99) for the infringement of its numerous provisions, as well as prohibition of continued practice of journalism or publication or even circulation of printed materials; confiscation of property, including printing presses (Article 101) and seizure of printed materials (Article 102)..........Full Text

The Isaq Somali Diaspora And‎ Poll-Tax Agitation In Kenya, 1936-41‎

Poll-tax agitation has been a fairly common phenomenon in Africa. On most occasions it has involved little ‎more than vocalized protest. In a few instances, however, it has led to resistance that has been both serious ‎and violent; the earliest example of the latter is probably to be found in the widespread Fante uprisings that ‎occurred immediately after the introduction of the Gold Coast Poll Tax Ordinance of 1852; a later example is ‎the Natal uprising of 1906 which has been attributed in large measure to the introduction of poll tax at the ‎end of the previous year. Yet the agitation by the Isaq Somali in Kenya did not follow either of these two ‎patterns. In several respects it was a highly unusual movement: first, the Isaq were campaigning to pay higher ‎taxation; secondly, in order to secure their aims they attempted to mobilize the whole Isaq diaspora, so that ‎Somali in Uganda, Tanganyika, British Somaliland and Britain were all involved in this agitation, (see map )‎.....Read the rest

The "Letter-of-Death" by General "Morgan" January 23, 1987

(Waridaad) - Following is the famous "Letter-of-Death" as translated into English by Mohamoud Sheikh Ahmed Musa, former President of the Supreme Court, including his explanatory notes as footnotes:1
The report is addressed to the President of the SDR, the Minister of Defence, and the Minister of Interior. The latter, Major-General Ahmed Suleiman Abdalla, is also a son-in-law of the President, and Third Deputy Prime Minister. Since President Barre is also the Minister of Defence -- the previous holder of that portfolio, General Mohamed Ali Samatar, having been promoted Prime Minister on January 30, 1987 -- the report is seemingly confined to family members. This would explain its extreme frankness in specifying certain clans as targets for implemented and recommended punitive action.
The target is the Isaaq Clan Family. The term "clan family" was first coined by Professor I.M. Lewis, Professor Social Anthropology at the London School Economics, to describe the collective name for each of the several major divisions to which Somali clans traditionally divide themselves. The Isaaq clan family sub-divides into four main clans.
Top Secret.......Read the rest